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CHAPTER XX THE LAST LOSS
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 Three days later it was Easter Day. In the evening, about half-past nine, when Thomas lay sleeping and Peter was packing the rugs and cushions and pictures he hadn't paid for into brown paper parcels (a tedious job), Rodney came in. Peter hadn't seen him for some time.
 
"What on earth," said Rodney, lighting1 his pipe and sitting down, "are you doing with all that upholstery? Has someone been sending you Easter presents? Well, I'm glad you're getting rid of them as speedily as may be."
 
Peter said ruefully, because he was tired of the business, "The stupid things aren't paid for. So I'm packing them up to be sent back directly the shops open again. I can't afford them, you see. Already most of my belongings2 are in pawn3."
 
"I see." Rodney wasn't specially4 struck by this; it was the chronic5 condition of many of his friends, who were largely of the class who pawn their clothes on Monday and redeem7 them on Saturday to wear for Sunday, and pawn them again, paying, if they can afford it, a penny extra to have the dresses hung up so that they don't crush.
 
"A sudden attack of honesty," Rodney commented. "Well, I'm glad, because I don't see what you want to cumber8 yourself with all those cushions and rugs for. You're quite comfortable enough without them."
 
Peter said, "Thomas and I wanted nice things to look at. We were tired of horse-hair and 'Grace Sufficient'. Thomas is fastidious."
 
Rodney put a large finger on Thomas' head.
 
"Thomas isn't such a fool.... Hullo, there's another of you." Francesco woke and came out of his corner and laid his nose on Rodney's knee with his confiding9 grin.
 
"Yes, that's San Francesco. Rather nice, isn't he. He's coming with us too. I called him Francesco instead of Francis that he might feel at home in Italy."
 
"Oh, in Italy."
 
Peter hadn't meant to tell Rodney that, because he didn't think that Rodney would approve, and he wanted to avoid an argument. But he had let it out, of course; he could never keep anything in.
 
"That's where we're going to-morrow, to seek our fortunes. Won't it be rather good in Italy now? We don't know what we shall do when we get there, or where we shall go; but something nice, for sure."
 
"I'm glad," said Rodney. "It's a good country in the spring. Shall you walk the roads with Thomas slung10 over your back, or what?"
 
"I don't know. Partly, I daresay. But we want to find some little place between the hills and the sea, and stay there. Perhaps for always; I don't know. It's going to be extraordinarily11 nice, anyhow."
 
Rodney glanced at him, caught by the ring in his voice, a ring he hadn't heard for long. He didn't quite understand Peter. When last he saw him, he had been very far through, alarmingly near the bottom. Was this recovery natural grace, or had something happened? It seemed to Rodney rather admirable, and he looked appreciatively at Peter's cheerful face and happy eyes.
 
"Good," he said. "Good—splendid!"
 
And then Peter, meeting his pleased look and understanding it, winced12 back from it, and coloured, and bent13 over his brown paper and string. He valued Rodney's appreciation14, a thing not easily won. He felt that in this moment he had won it, as he had never won it before. For he knew that Rodney liked pluck, and was thinking him plucky15.
 
Against his will he muttered, half beneath his breath, "Oh, it isn't really what you call good. It is good, you know: I think it's good; but you won't. You'll call it abominable16."
 
"Oh," said Rodney.
 
Peter went on, with a new violence, "I know all you'll say about it, so I'm not going to give you the opportunity of saying it till I'm gone. You needn't think I'm going to tell you now and let you tell me I'm wrong. I'm not wrong; and if I am I don't care. Please don't stay any more; I'd rather you weren't here to-night. I don't want to tell you anything; only I had just got to say that, because you were thinking.... Oh, do go now."
 
Rodney sat quite still and looked at him, into him, through him, beyond him. Then he said, "You needn't tell me anything. I know. Lucy and you are going together."
 
Peter stood up, rather unsteadily.
 
"Well? That's not clever. Any fool could have guessed that."
 
"Yes. And any fool could guess what I'm going to say about it, too. You know it all already, of course...."
 
Rodney was groping for words, helplessly, blindly.
 
"Peter, I didn't know you had it in you to be a cad."
 
Peter was putting books into a portmanteau, and did not answer.
 
"You mean to do that ... to Denis...."
 
Peter put in socks and handkerchiefs.
 
"And to Lucy.... I don't understand you, Peter.... I simply don't understand. Are you mad—or drunk—or didn't I really ever know you in the least?"
 
Peter stuffed in Thomas' nightgowns, crumpling17 them hideously18.
 
"Very well," said Rodney, very quietly. "It doesn't particularly matter which it is. In any case you are not going to do it. I shall prevent it."
 
"You can't," Peter flung at him, crushing a woolly rabbit in among Thomas' clothes.
 
Rodney sat still and looked at him, resting his chin on his hand; looked into him, through him, beyond him.
 
"I believe I can," he said simply.
 
Peter stopped filling the bag, and, still sitting on the floor by it, delivered himself at last.
 
"We care for each other. Isn't that to count, then? We always have cared for each other. Are we to do without each other for always? We want each other, we need each other. Denis doesn't need Lucy. He never did; not as I do. Are Lucy and I to do without each other, living only half a life, because of him? I tell you, I'm sick to death of doing without things. The time has come when it won't do any more, and I'm going to take what I can. I think I would rob anyone quite cheerfully if he had what I wanted. A few days ago I did rob; I bought things I knew I couldn't pay for. I'm sending them back now simply because I don't want them any more, not because I'm sorry I took them. It was fair I should take them; it was my turn to have things, mine and Thomas's. And now I'm going to take this, and keep it, till it's taken away from me. I daresay it will be taken away soon; my things always are. Everything has broken and gone, one thing after another, all my life—all the things I've cared for. I'm tired of it. I was sick of it by the time I was ten years old, sick of always getting ill or smashed up; and that's gone on ever since, and people have always thought, I know, 'Oh, it's only him, he never minds anything, he doesn't count, he's just a crock, and his only use is to play the fool for us.' But I did mind; I did. And I only played the fool because it would have been drearier19 still not to, and because there was always something amusing left to laugh at, not because I didn't mind. And then I cared for Denis as ... Oh, but you know how I cared for Denis. He was the most bright and splendid thing I knew in all the splendid world ... and he chucked me, because everything went wrong that could go wrong between us without my fault ... and our friendship was spoilt.... And I cared for Hilary and Peggy; and they would go and do things to spoil all our lives, and the more I tried, like an ass6, to help, the more I seemed to mess things up, till the crash came, and we all went to bits together. And we had to give up the only work we liked—and I did love mine so—and slave at things we hated. And still we kept sinking and sinking, and crashing on worse and worse rocks, till we hadn't a sound piece left to float us. And then, when I thought at least we could go down together, they went away and left me behind. So I'd failed there too, hopelessly. I always have failed in everything I've tried. I tried to make Rhoda happy, but that failed too. She left me; and now she's dead, and Thomas hasn't any mother at all.... And Lucy ... whom I'd cared for since before I could remember ... and I'd always thought, without thinking about it, that some day of course we should be together... Lucy left me, and our caring became wrong, so that at last we didn't care to see one another at all. And then it was as if hell had opened and let us in. The other things hadn't counted like that; health, money, beautiful things, interesting work, honour, friends, marriage, even Denis—they'd all collapsed20 and I did mind, horribly. But not like that. As long as I could see Lucy sometimes, I could go on—and I had Thomas too, though I don't know why he hasn't collapsed yet. But at last, quite suddenly, when the emptiness and the losing had been getting to seem worse and worse for a long time, they became so bad that they were impossible. I got angry; it was for Thomas more than for myself, I think; and I said it should end. I said I would take things; steal them, if I couldn't get them by fair means. And I went down to Astleys, to see them, to tell them it must end. And in the woods I met Lucy. And she'd been getting to know too that it must end, for her sake as well as for mine.... And so we're going to end it, and begin again. We're going to be happy, because life is too jolly to miss."
 
Peter ended defiantly21, and flung his razor in among the socks.
 
Rodney had listened quietly, his eyes on Peter's profile. When he stayed silent, Peter supposed that he had at last convinced him of the unbreakable strength of his purpose for iniquity22, and that he would give him up and go away. After a minute he turned and looked up at Rodney, and said, "Now do you see that it's no good?"
 
Rodney took out his pipe and knocked it out and put it away before he answered:
 
"I'm glad you've said all that, Peter. Not that I didn't know it all before; of course I did. When I said at first that I didn't understand you, I was lying. I did understand, perfectly23 well. But I'm glad you've said it, because it's well to know that you realise it so clearly yourself. It saves my explaining it to you. It gives us a common knowledge to start on. And now may I talk for a little, please? No, not for a little; for some time."
 
"Go on," said Peter. "But it's no use, you know.... What do you mean by our common knowledge? The knowledge that I'm a failure?"
 
Rodney nodded. "Precisely24 that. You've stated the case so clearly yourself—in outline, for you've left out a great deal, of course—that really it doesn't leave much for me to say. Let's leave you alone for the moment. I want to talk about other people. There are other people in the world besides ourselves, of course, improbable as the fact occasionally seems. The fact, I mean, that it's a world not of individual units but of closely connected masses of people, not one of whom stands alone. One can't detach oneself; one's got to be in with one camp or another. The world's full of different and opposing camps—worse luck. There are the beauty-lovers and the beauty-scorners, and all the fluctuating masses in between, like most of us, who love some aspects of it and scorn others. There are the well-meaning and the ill-meaning—and again the incoherent cross-benchers, who mean a little good and a little harm and for the most part mean nothing at all either way. Again, there are what people call the well-bred, the ill-bred, and of course the half-bred. An idiotic25 division that, because what do we know, any of us, of breeding, that we should call it good or bad? But there it is; a most well-marked division in everyone's eyes. And (and now I'm getting to the point) there are the rich and the poor—or call them, rather, the Haves and the Have-nots. I don't mean with regard to money particularly, though that comes in. But it's an all-round, thing. It's an undoubted fact, and one there's no getting round, that some people are born with the acquiring faculty26, and others with the losing. Most of us, of course, are in the half-way house, and win and lose in fairly average proportions. But some of us seem marked out either for the one or for the other. I know personally a good many in both camps. Many more of the Have-nots, though, because I prefer to cultivate their acquaintance. There's a great deal to be done for the Haves too; they need, I fancy, all the assistance they can get if they're not to become prosperity-rotten. The Have-Nots haven't that danger; but they've plenty of dangers of their own; and, well, I suppose it's a question of taste, and that I prefer them. Anyhow, I do know a great many. People, you understand, with nothing at all that seems to make life tolerable. Destitutes, incapables, outcasts, slaves to their own lusts27 or to a grinding economic system or to some other cruelty of fate or men. Whatever the immediate29 cause of their ill-fortune may be, its underlying30, fundamental cause is their own inherent faculty for failure and loss, their incompetence31 to take and hold the good things of life. You know the stale old hackneyed cry of the anti-socialists, how it would be no use equalising conditions because each man would soon return again to his original state. It's true in a deeper sense than they mean. You might equalise economic conditions as much as you please, but you'd never equalise fundamental conditions; you'd never turn the poor into the rich, the Have-Nots into the Haves. You know I'm not a Socialist32. I don't want to see a futile33 attempt to throw down barriers and merge34 all camps in one indeterminate army who don't know what they mean or where they're going. I'm not a Socialist, because I don't believe in a universal outward prosperity. I mean, I don't want it; I should have no use for it. I'm holding no brief for the rich; I've nothing to say about them just now; and anyhow you and I have no concern with them." Rodney pulled himself back from the edge of a topic on which he was apt to become readily vehement35. "But Socialism isn't the way out for them any more than it's the way out for the poor; it's got, I believe, to be by individual renunciation that their salvation36 will come; by their giving up, and stripping bare, and going down one by one and empty-handed into the common highways, to take their share of hardness like men. It will be extraordinarily difficult. Changing one's camp is. It's so difficult as to be all but impossible. Perhaps you've read the Bible story of the young man with great possessions, and how it was said, 'With men it is impossible...' Well, the tradition, true or false, goes that in the end he did it; gave up his possessions and became financially poor. But we don't know, even if that's true, what else he kept of his wealth; a good deal, I daresay, that wasn't money or material goods. One can't tell. What we do know is that to cross that dividing line, to change one's camp, is a nearly impossible thing. Someone says, 'That division, the division of those who have and those who have not, runs so deep as almost to run to the bottom.' The great division, he calls it, between those who seize and those who lose. Well, the Haves aren't always seizers, I think; often—more often, perhaps—they have only to move tranquilly37 through life and let gifts drop into their hands. It's pleasant to see, if we are not in a mood to be jarred. It's often attractive. It was mainly that that attracted you long ago in Denis Urquhart. The need and the want in you, who got little and lost much, was somehow vicariously satisfied by the gifts he received from fortune; by his beauty and strength and good luck and power of winning and keeping. He was pleasant in your eyes, because of these gifts of his; and, indeed, they made of him a pleasant person, since he had nothing to be unpleasant about. So your emptiness found pleasure in his fullness, your poverty in his riches, your weakness in his strength, and you loved him. And I think if anything could (yet) have redeemed38 him, have saved him from his prosperity, it would have been your love. But instead of letting it drag him down into the scrum and the pity and the battle of life, he turned away from it and kept it at a distance, and shut himself more closely between his protecting walls of luxury and well-being39. Then, again, Lucy gave him his chance; but he hasn't (so far) followed her love either. She'd have led him, if she could, out of the protecting, confining walls, into the open, where people are struggling and perishing for lack of a little pity; but he wouldn't. So far the time hasn't been ripe for his saving; his day is still to come. It's up to all of us who care for him—and can any of us help it?—to save him from himself. And chiefly it's your job and Lucy's. You can do your part now only by clearing out of the way, and leaving Lucy to do hers. She will do it, I firmly believe, in the end, if you give her time. Lucy, I know, for I have seen it when I have been with her, has been troubled about her own removal from the arena40, about her own being confined between walls so that she can't hear the people outside calling; but that is mere41 egotism. She can hear and see all right; she has all her senses, and she will never stop using them. It's her business to be concerned for Denis, who is blind and deaf. It's her business to use her own caring to make him care. She's got to drag him out, not to let herself be shut inside with him. It can be done, and Lucy, if anyone in the world, can do it—if she doesn't give up and shirk. Lucy, if anyone in the world, has the right touch, the right loosing power, to set Denis free. I think that you too have the touch and the power—but you mustn't use yours; the time for that is gone by. Yours is the much harder business of clearing out of the way. If you ever loved Denis, you will do that."
 
He paused and looked at Peter, who was still sitting on the floor, motionless, with bent head.
 
"May I go on?" said Rodney, and Peter answered nothing.
 
Rodney looked away again out of the window into a grey night sky that hid the Easter moon, and went on, gently. He was tired of talking; his discourse42 had been already nearly as long as an average woman; but he went on deliberately43 talking and talking, to give Peter time.
 
"So, you see, that is an excellent reason—to you it is, I believe, the incontrovertible reason—why you should once more give up and lose, and not take. But, deeper than that, to me more insurmountable than that, is the true reason, which is simply that that very thing—to lose, to do without—is your business in life, as you've said yourself. It's your profession. You are in the camp of the Have-Nots; you belong there. You can't desert. You can't step out and go over to the enemy. If you did, if you could (only you can't) it would be a betrayal. And, whatever you gained, you'd lose by it what you have at present—your fellowship with the other unfortunates. Isn't that a thing worth having? Isn't it something to be down on the ground with the poor and empty-handed, not above them, where you can't hear them crying and laughing? Would you, if you could, be one of the prosperous, who don't care? Would you, if you could, be one of those who have their joy in life ready-made and put into their hands, instead of one of the poor craftsmen44 who have to make their own? What's the gaiety of the saints? Not the pleasant cheerfulness of the Denis Urquharts and their kind, who have things, but the gaiety, in the teeth of circumstances, of St. Francis and his paupers45, who have nothing and yet possess all things. That's your gaiety; the gaiety that plays the fool, as you put it, looking into the very eyes of agony and death; that loses and laughs and makes others laugh in the last ditch; the gaiety of those who drop all cargoes46, fortune and good name and love, overboard lightly, and still spread sail to the winds and voyage, and when they're driven by the winds at last onto a lee shore, derelicts clinging to a broken wreck47, find on the shore coloured shells to play with and still are gay. That's your gaiety, as I've always known it and loved it. Are you going to chuck that gaiety away, and rise up full of the lust28 to possess, and take and grasp and plunder48? Are you going to desert the empty-handed legion, whose van you've marched in all your life, and join the prosperous?" Rodney broke off for a moment, as if he waited for an answer. He rose from his chair and began to walk about the room, speaking again, with a more alright vehemence49. "Oh, you may think this is mere romance, fancy, sentiment, what you will. But it isn't. It's deadly, solid truth. You can't grasp. You can't try to change your camp. You—and Lucy too, for she's in the same camp—wouldn't be happy, to put it at its simplest. You'd know all the time that you'd shirked, deserted50, been false to your business. You'd be fishes out of water, with the knowledge that you'd taken for your own pleasure something that someone else ought to have had. It isn't in either of you to do it. You must leave such work to the Haves. Why, what happens the first time you try it on? You have to send back the goods you've tried to appropriate to where they came from. It would be the same always. You don't know how to possess. Then in heaven's name leave possessing alone, and stick to the job you are good at—doing without. For you are good at that. You always have been, except just for just one short interlude, which will pass like an illness and leave you well again. Believe me, it will. I don't know when, or how soon; but I do know that sometime you will be happy again, with the things, the coloured shells, so to speak, that you find still when all the winds and storms have done their worst and all your cargoes are broken wrecks51 at your feet. It will be then, in that last emptiness, that you'll come to terms with disaster, and play the fool again to amuse yourself and the other derelicts, because, when there's nothing else left, there's always laughter."
 
Rodney had walked to the window, and now stood looking out at the dim, luminous52 night, wherein, shrouded53, the Easter moon dwelt in the heart of shadows. From many churches, many clocks chimed the hour. Rodney spoke54 once more, slowly, leaning out into the shadowy night.
 
"Through this week," he said, "they have been watching in those churches a supreme55 renouncement56, the ultimate agony of giving up, the last triumph of utter loss. I'm not going to talk about that; it's not my business or my right ... But it surely counts, that giving up whatever we may or may not believe about it. It shines, a terrible counsel of perfection for those who have, burning and hurting. But for those who have not, it doesn't burn and hurt; it shines to cheer and comfort; it is the banner of the leader of the losing legion, lifted up that the rest may follow after. Does that help at all?... Perhaps at this moment nothing helps at all.... Have I said enough? Need I go on?"
 
Peter's voice, flat and dead, spoke out of the shadow of the dim room.
 
"You have said enough. You need not go on."
 
Then Rodney turned and saw him, sitting still on the floor by the half-packed bag, with the yellow dog sleeping against him. In the dim light his face looked pale and pinched like a dead man's.
 
"You've done your work," the flat voice said. "You've taken it away—the new life we so wanted. You've shown that it can't be. You're quite right. And you're right too that nothing helps at all.... Because of Denis, I can't do this. But I find no good in emptiness; why should I? I want to have things and enjoy them, at this moment, more desperately57 than you, who praise emptiness and doing without, ever wanted anything."
 
"I am aware of that," said Rodney.
 
"You've got in the way," said Peter, looking up at the tall gaunt figure by the window; and anger shook him. "You've stepped in and spoilt it all. Yes, you needn't be afraid; you've spoilt it quite irrevocably. You knew that to mention Denis was enough to do that. I was trying to forget him; I could have, till it was too late. You can go home now and feel quite easy; you've done your job. There's to be no new life for me, or Thomas, or Lucy, or Francesco—only the same old emptiness. The same old ... oh, damn!"
 
Peter, who never swore, that ugly violence being repugnant to his nature, swore now, and woke Francesco, who put up his head to lick his friend's face. But Peter pushed him away, surprising him violently, and caught at his half-filled bag and snatched at the contents and flung them on the top of one another on the floor. They lay in a jumbled58 chaos—Thomas's clothes and Peter's socks and razor and Thomas's rabbit and Peter's books; and Francesco snuffled among them and tossed them about, thinking it a new game.
 
"Go away now." Peter flung out the words like another oath. "Go away to your poverty which you like, and leave us to ours which we hate. There's no more left for you to take away from us; it's all gone. Unless you'd like me to throw Thomas out of the window, since you think breakages are so good."
 
Rodney merely said, "I'm not going away just yet. Could you let me stay here for the night and sleep on the sofa? It's late to go back to-night."
 
"Sleep where you like," said Peter. "There's the bed. I don't want it."
 
But Rodney stretched himself instead on the horse-hair sofa. He said no more, knowing that the time for words was past. He lay tired and quiet, with closed eyes, knowing how Peter and the other disreputable forsaken59 outcast sat together huddled60 on the floor through the dim night, till the dawn looked palely in and showed them both fallen asleep, Peter's head resting on Francesco's yellow back.
 
It was Rodney who got up stiffly from his hard resting-place in the dark unlovely morning, and made tea over Peter's spirit-lamp for both of them. Peter woke later, and drank it mechanically. Then he looked at Rodney and said, "I'm horribly stiff. Why did neither of us go to bed?" He was pale and heavy-eyed, and violent no more, but very quiet and tired, as if, accepting, he was sinking deep in grey and cold seas, that numbed61 resistance and drowned words.
 
The milk came in, and Peter gave Thomas to drink; and on the heels of the milk came the post, and a letter for Peter.
 
"I suppose," said Peter dully, as he opened it, "she too has found out that it can't be done."
 
The letter said: "Peter, we can't do it. I am horribly, horribly sorry, but I know it now for certain. Perhaps you know it too, by now. Because the reason is in you, not in me. It is that you love Denis too much. So you couldn't be happy. I want you to be happy, more than I want anything in the world, but it can't be this way. Please, dear Peter, be happy sometime; please, please be happy. I love you always—if that helps at all.—Lucy."
 
Peter let the note fall on the floor, and stood with bent head by the side of Thomas's crib, while Thomas guggled his milk.
 
"Two minds with but a single thought," he remarked, in that new, dreary62 voice of his. "As always.... Well, it saves trouble. And we're utterly63 safe now, you see; doubly safe. You can go home in peace."
 
Then Rodney, knowing that he could be no more use, left the three derelicts together.
 

点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 lighting CpszPL     
n.照明,光线的明暗,舞台灯光
参考例句:
  • The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
  • The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。
2 belongings oy6zMv     
n.私人物品,私人财物
参考例句:
  • I put a few personal belongings in a bag.我把几件私人物品装进包中。
  • Your personal belongings are not dutiable.个人物品不用纳税。
3 pawn 8ixyq     
n.典当,抵押,小人物,走卒;v.典当,抵押
参考例句:
  • He is contemplating pawning his watch.他正在考虑抵押他的手表。
  • It looks as though he is being used as a political pawn by the President.看起来他似乎被总统当作了政治卒子。
4 specially Hviwq     
adv.特定地;特殊地;明确地
参考例句:
  • They are specially packaged so that they stack easily.它们经过特别包装以便于堆放。
  • The machine was designed specially for demolishing old buildings.这种机器是专为拆毁旧楼房而设计的。
5 chronic BO9zl     
adj.(疾病)长期未愈的,慢性的;极坏的
参考例句:
  • Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
  • Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。
6 ass qvyzK     
n.驴;傻瓜,蠢笨的人
参考例句:
  • He is not an ass as they make him.他不象大家猜想的那样笨。
  • An ass endures his burden but not more than his burden.驴能负重但不能超过它能力所负担的。
7 redeem zCbyH     
v.买回,赎回,挽回,恢复,履行(诺言等)
参考例句:
  • He had no way to redeem his furniture out of pawn.他无法赎回典当的家具。
  • The eyes redeem the face from ugliness.这双眼睛弥补了他其貌不扬之缺陷。
8 cumber enozj     
v.拖累,妨碍;n.妨害;拖累
参考例句:
  • She was cumbered with house hold cares.她被家务事拖累。
  • We shall not cumber our thought with his reproaches.我们不应该因为他的责备而阻止我们的思想。
9 confiding e67d6a06e1cdfe51bc27946689f784d1     
adj.相信人的,易于相信的v.吐露(秘密,心事等)( confide的现在分词 );(向某人)吐露(隐私、秘密等)
参考例句:
  • The girl is of a confiding nature. 这女孩具有轻信别人的性格。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
  • Celia, though confiding her opinion only to Andrew, disagreed. 西莉亚却不这么看,尽管她只向安德鲁吐露过。 来自辞典例句
10 slung slung     
抛( sling的过去式和过去分词 ); 吊挂; 遣送; 押往
参考例句:
  • He slung the bag over his shoulder. 他把包一甩,挎在肩上。
  • He stood up and slung his gun over his shoulder. 他站起来把枪往肩上一背。
11 extraordinarily Vlwxw     
adv.格外地;极端地
参考例句:
  • She is an extraordinarily beautiful girl.她是个美丽非凡的姑娘。
  • The sea was extraordinarily calm that morning.那天清晨,大海出奇地宁静。
12 winced 7be9a27cb0995f7f6019956af354c6e4     
赶紧避开,畏缩( wince的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • He winced as the dog nipped his ankle. 狗咬了他的脚腕子,疼得他龇牙咧嘴。
  • He winced as a sharp pain shot through his left leg. 他左腿一阵剧痛疼得他直龇牙咧嘴。
13 bent QQ8yD     
n.爱好,癖好;adj.弯的;决心的,一心的
参考例句:
  • He was fully bent upon the project.他一心扑在这项计划上。
  • We bent over backward to help them.我们尽了最大努力帮助他们。
14 appreciation Pv9zs     
n.评价;欣赏;感谢;领会,理解;价格上涨
参考例句:
  • I would like to express my appreciation and thanks to you all.我想对你们所有人表达我的感激和谢意。
  • I'll be sending them a donation in appreciation of their help.我将送给他们一笔捐款以感谢他们的帮助。
15 plucky RBOyw     
adj.勇敢的
参考例句:
  • The plucky schoolgirl amazed doctors by hanging on to life for nearly two months.这名勇敢的女生坚持不放弃生命近两个月的精神令医生感到震惊。
  • This story featured a plucky heroine.这个故事描述了一个勇敢的女英雄。
16 abominable PN5zs     
adj.可厌的,令人憎恶的
参考例句:
  • Their cruel treatment of prisoners was abominable.他们虐待犯人的做法令人厌恶。
  • The sanitary conditions in this restaurant are abominable.这家饭馆的卫生状况糟透了。
17 crumpling 5ae34fb958cdc699149f8ae5626850aa     
压皱,弄皱( crumple的现在分词 ); 变皱
参考例句:
  • His crumpling body bent low from years of carrying heavy loads. 由于经年累月的负重,他那皱巴巴的身子被压得弯弯的。
  • This apparently took the starch out of the fast-crumpling opposition. 这显然使正在迅速崩溃的反对党泄了气。
18 hideously hideously     
adv.可怕地,非常讨厌地
参考例句:
  • The witch was hideously ugly. 那个女巫丑得吓人。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Pitt's smile returned, and it was hideously diabolic. 皮特的脸上重新浮现出笑容,但却狰狞可怕。 来自辞典例句
19 drearier be71c6020a542025bcf74063daea42ea     
使人闷闷不乐或沮丧的( dreary的比较级 ); 阴沉的; 令人厌烦的; 单调的
参考例句:
20 collapsed cwWzSG     
adj.倒塌的
参考例句:
  • Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
  • The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。
21 defiantly defiantly     
adv.挑战地,大胆对抗地
参考例句:
  • Braving snow and frost, the plum trees blossomed defiantly. 红梅傲雪凌霜开。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • She tilted her chin at him defiantly. 她向他翘起下巴表示挑衅。 来自《简明英汉词典》
22 iniquity F48yK     
n.邪恶;不公正
参考例句:
  • Research has revealed that he is a monster of iniquity.调查结果显示他是一个不法之徒。
  • The iniquity of the transaction aroused general indignation.这笔交易的不公引起了普遍的愤怒。
23 perfectly 8Mzxb     
adv.完美地,无可非议地,彻底地
参考例句:
  • The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
  • Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。
24 precisely zlWzUb     
adv.恰好,正好,精确地,细致地
参考例句:
  • It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
  • The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。
25 idiotic wcFzd     
adj.白痴的
参考例句:
  • It is idiotic to go shopping with no money.去买东西而不带钱是很蠢的。
  • The child's idiotic deeds caused his family much trouble.那小孩愚蠢的行为给家庭带来许多麻烦。
26 faculty HhkzK     
n.才能;学院,系;(学院或系的)全体教学人员
参考例句:
  • He has a great faculty for learning foreign languages.他有学习外语的天赋。
  • He has the faculty of saying the right thing at the right time.他有在恰当的时候说恰当的话的才智。
27 lusts d0f4ab5eb2cced870501c940851a727e     
贪求(lust的第三人称单数形式)
参考例句:
  • A miser lusts for gold. 守财奴贪财。
  • Palmer Kirby had wakened late blooming lusts in her. 巴穆·柯比在她心中煽动起一片迟暮的情欲。
28 lust N8rz1     
n.性(淫)欲;渴(欲)望;vi.对…有强烈的欲望
参考例句:
  • He was filled with lust for power.他内心充满了对权力的渴望。
  • Sensing the explorer's lust for gold, the chief wisely presented gold ornaments as gifts.酋长觉察出探险者们垂涎黄金的欲念,就聪明地把金饰品作为礼物赠送给他们。
29 immediate aapxh     
adj.立即的;直接的,最接近的;紧靠的
参考例句:
  • His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
  • We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。
30 underlying 5fyz8c     
adj.在下面的,含蓄的,潜在的
参考例句:
  • The underlying theme of the novel is very serious.小说隐含的主题是十分严肃的。
  • This word has its underlying meaning.这个单词有它潜在的含义。
31 incompetence o8Uxt     
n.不胜任,不称职
参考例句:
  • He was dismissed for incompetence. 他因不称职而被解雇。
  • She felt she had been made a scapegoat for her boss's incompetence. 她觉得,本是老板无能,但她却成了替罪羊。
32 socialist jwcws     
n.社会主义者;adj.社会主义的
参考例句:
  • China is a socialist country,and a developing country as well.中国是一个社会主义国家,也是一个发展中国家。
  • His father was an ardent socialist.他父亲是一个热情的社会主义者。
33 futile vfTz2     
adj.无效的,无用的,无希望的
参考例句:
  • They were killed,to the last man,in a futile attack.因为进攻失败,他们全部被杀,无一幸免。
  • Their efforts to revive him were futile.他们对他抢救无效。
34 merge qCpxF     
v.(使)结合,(使)合并,(使)合为一体
参考例句:
  • I can merge my two small businesses into a large one.我可以将我的两家小商店合并为一家大商行。
  • The directors have decided to merge the two small firms together.董事们已决定把这两家小商号归并起来。
35 vehement EL4zy     
adj.感情强烈的;热烈的;(人)有强烈感情的
参考例句:
  • She made a vehement attack on the government's policies.她强烈谴责政府的政策。
  • His proposal met with vehement opposition.他的倡导遭到了激烈的反对。
36 salvation nC2zC     
n.(尤指基督)救世,超度,拯救,解困
参考例句:
  • Salvation lay in political reform.解救办法在于政治改革。
  • Christians hope and pray for salvation.基督教徒希望并祈祷灵魂得救。
37 tranquilly d9b4cfee69489dde2ee29b9be8b5fb9c     
adv. 宁静地
参考例句:
  • He took up his brush and went tranquilly to work. 他拿起刷子,一声不响地干了起来。
  • The evening was closing down tranquilly. 暮色正在静悄悄地笼罩下来。
38 redeemed redeemed     
adj. 可赎回的,可救赎的 动词redeem的过去式和过去分词形式
参考例句:
  • She has redeemed her pawned jewellery. 她赎回了当掉的珠宝。
  • He redeemed his watch from the pawnbroker's. 他从当铺赎回手表。
39 well-being Fe3zbn     
n.安康,安乐,幸福
参考例句:
  • He always has the well-being of the masses at heart.他总是把群众的疾苦挂在心上。
  • My concern for their well-being was misunderstood as interference.我关心他们的幸福,却被误解为多管闲事。
40 arena Yv4zd     
n.竞技场,运动场所;竞争场所,舞台
参考例句:
  • She entered the political arena at the age of 25. 她25岁进入政界。
  • He had not an adequate arena for the exercise of his talents.他没有充分发挥其才能的场所。
41 mere rC1xE     
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过
参考例句:
  • That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
  • It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。
42 discourse 2lGz0     
n.论文,演说;谈话;话语;vi.讲述,著述
参考例句:
  • We'll discourse on the subject tonight.我们今晚要谈论这个问题。
  • He fell into discourse with the customers who were drinking at the counter.他和站在柜台旁的酒客谈了起来。
43 deliberately Gulzvq     
adv.审慎地;蓄意地;故意地
参考例句:
  • The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
  • They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。
44 craftsmen craftsmen     
n. 技工
参考例句:
  • rugs handmade by local craftsmen 由当地工艺师手工制作的小地毯
  • The craftsmen have ensured faithful reproduction of the original painting. 工匠保证要复制一幅最接近原作的画。
45 paupers 4c4c583df03d9b7a0e9ba5a2f5e9864f     
n.穷人( pauper的名词复数 );贫民;贫穷
参考例句:
  • The garment is expensive, paupers like you could never afford it! 这件衣服很贵,你这穷鬼根本买不起! 来自互联网
  • Child-friendliest among the paupers were Burkina Faso and Malawi. 布基纳法索,马拉维,这俩贫穷国家儿童友善工作做得不错。 来自互联网
46 cargoes 49e446283c0d32352a986fd82a7e13c4     
n.(船或飞机装载的)货物( cargo的名词复数 );大量,重负
参考例句:
  • This ship embarked cargoes. 这艘船装载货物。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The crew lashed cargoes of timber down. 全体船员将木材绑牢。 来自《简明英汉词典》
47 wreck QMjzE     
n.失事,遇难;沉船;vt.(船等)失事,遇难
参考例句:
  • Weather may have been a factor in the wreck.天气可能是造成这次失事的原因之一。
  • No one can wreck the friendship between us.没有人能够破坏我们之间的友谊。
48 plunder q2IzO     
vt.劫掠财物,掠夺;n.劫掠物,赃物;劫掠
参考例句:
  • The thieves hid their plunder in the cave.贼把赃物藏在山洞里。
  • Trade should not serve as a means of economic plunder.贸易不应当成为经济掠夺的手段。
49 vehemence 2ihw1     
n.热切;激烈;愤怒
参考例句:
  • The attack increased in vehemence.进攻越来越猛烈。
  • She was astonished at his vehemence.她对他的激昂感到惊讶。
50 deserted GukzoL     
adj.荒芜的,荒废的,无人的,被遗弃的
参考例句:
  • The deserted village was filled with a deathly silence.这个荒废的村庄死一般的寂静。
  • The enemy chieftain was opposed and deserted by his followers.敌人头目众叛亲离。
51 wrecks 8d69da0aee97ed3f7157e10ff9dbd4ae     
n.沉船( wreck的名词复数 );(事故中)遭严重毁坏的汽车(或飞机等);(身体或精神上)受到严重损伤的人;状况非常糟糕的车辆(或建筑物等)v.毁坏[毁灭]某物( wreck的第三人称单数 );使(船舶)失事,使遇难,使下沉
参考例句:
  • The shores are strewn with wrecks. 海岸上满布失事船只的残骸。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
  • My next care was to get together the wrecks of my fortune. 第二件我所关心的事就是集聚破产后的余财。 来自辞典例句
52 luminous 98ez5     
adj.发光的,发亮的;光明的;明白易懂的;有启发的
参考例句:
  • There are luminous knobs on all the doors in my house.我家所有门上都安有夜光把手。
  • Most clocks and watches in this shop are in luminous paint.这家商店出售的大多数钟表都涂了发光漆。
53 shrouded 6b3958ee6e7b263c722c8b117143345f     
v.隐瞒( shroud的过去式和过去分词 );保密
参考例句:
  • The hills were shrouded in mist . 这些小山被笼罩在薄雾之中。
  • The towers were shrouded in mist. 城楼被蒙上薄雾。 来自《简明英汉词典》
54 spoke XryyC     
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说
参考例句:
  • They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
  • The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。
55 supreme PHqzc     
adj.极度的,最重要的;至高的,最高的
参考例句:
  • It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
  • He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。
56 renouncement a573320250ac1cfbfd59cb9b8f65e232     
n.否认,拒绝
参考例句:
57 desperately cu7znp     
adv.极度渴望地,绝望地,孤注一掷地
参考例句:
  • He was desperately seeking a way to see her again.他正拼命想办法再见她一面。
  • He longed desperately to be back at home.他非常渴望回家。
58 jumbled rpSzs2     
adj.混乱的;杂乱的
参考例句:
  • Books, shoes and clothes were jumbled together on the floor. 书、鞋子和衣服胡乱堆放在地板上。
  • The details of the accident were all jumbled together in his mind. 他把事故细节记得颠三倒四。
59 Forsaken Forsaken     
adj. 被遗忘的, 被抛弃的 动词forsake的过去分词
参考例句:
  • He was forsaken by his friends. 他被朋友们背弃了。
  • He has forsaken his wife and children. 他遗弃了他的妻子和孩子。
60 huddled 39b87f9ca342d61fe478b5034beb4139     
挤在一起(huddle的过去式与过去分词形式)
参考例句:
  • We huddled together for warmth. 我们挤在一块取暖。
  • We huddled together to keep warm. 我们挤在一起来保暖。
61 numbed f49681fad452b31c559c5f54ee8220f4     
v.使麻木,使麻痹( numb的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • His mind has been numbed. 他已麻木不仁。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • He was numbed with grief. 他因悲伤而昏迷了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
62 dreary sk1z6     
adj.令人沮丧的,沉闷的,单调乏味的
参考例句:
  • They live such dreary lives.他们的生活如此乏味。
  • She was tired of hearing the same dreary tale of drunkenness and violence.她听够了那些关于酗酒和暴力的乏味故事。
63 utterly ZfpzM1     
adv.完全地,绝对地
参考例句:
  • Utterly devoted to the people,he gave his life in saving his patients.他忠于人民,把毕生精力用于挽救患者的生命。
  • I was utterly ravished by the way she smiled.她的微笑使我完全陶醉了。


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